Alan Stewart’s UK and Ireland family history news

Gretna Green marriage registers go online

The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies’ database of marriages that took place from 1794-1895 in Gretna Green in Scotland, just over the border with England, has been made available online.

Ancestry.co.uk has added the database containing what has become known as the Lang Collection of Gretna Green Marriage Registers, named after David and Simon Lang, a father and son duo who were “priests” and performed many marriages in Gretna Green between 1794 and 1828.

Under the Marriage Act of 1753 (also known as Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act), clandestine or common-law marriages in England were made illegal. All marriages were required to have an official ceremony performed by a Church of England priest, unless the couple was Jewish or ‘Quaker’. The Act also required parental consent for parties under 21 years old and enforced the publication of Banns. This Act also applied in Wales and Ireland, but not in Scotland, however, which has its own legal system.

Couples wanting to get around these laws (for example because of no parental consent or personal objections to marrying in a church) often fled to Scottish border villages to get married where the English laws did not apply. Located just over the border, Gretna Green was one of the first villages encountered by elopers heading north. To this day, Gretna Green is still a very popular wedding destination (although not with elopers today!).

The entire collection covers the years 1794 to 1895, with a few earlier references. Since Gretna Green marriages were not exactly formal, the record keeping was not regulated, nor was it centralised. The Lang Registers cover around half of all Gretna Green marriages performed during the specified time period, and include over 10,000 records.

Sometimes marriages were recorded on scraps of pieces of paper, while at other times they were kept more formally and recorded in a book. The amount of information recorded could vary as well. However, Ancestry says that you’ll generally be able to find the following information:

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8 Responses

The story is that in around 1944-45 my mother eloped to Gretna Green and married her sweetheart. However when they returned home my grandmother went balistic and had the marriage annuled. My mother and the feller went their seperate ways and that was that. Is it possible for me to be able to gain the marriage records of her and this man. Especially as when I only have my mothers name and not the man’s as well. All I know about him was that I believe he was Irish and his first name might of been Patrick but not certain. My mothers maiden name was Sylvia Muriel Vidour for short or Vidofski full length. Best wishes Maria….

The above mentioned story is pretty almost exactly the same as my grandmothers! Except her name was Ruby Hook. I was also wondering how to go about searching for her marriage certificate. I’ve looked as Scotland’s People, but I found the site to be somewhat not very linear and together. Any pointers or help you can give would be amazing.
Thanks
Adele

I searched for Ruby Hook on ScotlandsPeople (the free search on the Home Page searches all their databases), but she doesn’t seem to be in any of their records. There are ten marriages for women named Ruby Hook on Ancestry, from 1911-1956, but these are in England and Wales.

Hi
This is Farhana. Me and my husband got married at 2009 in Bangladesh. My husband is a British citizen and I am Bangladeshi. We both are staying here in this country (Scotland, UK). We need to register our marriage. We need to know what is the requirements for marriage registry. Can we complete the procedure online? Could you please send us the appropriate form? Waiting for your kind reply.

The database at Ancestry.co.uk only covers the period 1794-1895. For a more recent marriage, you would need to search the Statutory Register of Marriages at the pay-per-view ScotlandsPeople website http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk.